Aaron Carter’s manager calls memoir and album release “heartless money grabs”

The manager of the late Aaron Carter has called the upcoming release of the singer’s unfinished memoir a “heartless money grab”.

Carter’s representatives confirmed his passing on Saturday (November 5) shortly after it spread in reports that he was found dead in his Californian home. His house sitter reportedly found him unresponsive in his bath sometime after 11am, when police received a call from them.

This week, it was then revealed that Carter was working on a memoir before his death, titled (My Father’s Son): Aaron Carter: An Incomplete Story Of An Incomplete Life. The book, comprised of three years of interviews between Carter and author Andy Symonds, is set for release next week (November 15).

A posthumous album titled ‘Blacklisted’ was also released two days after the singer’s death, with producers Morgan Matthews and John Wyatt Johnson saying: “We decided to release ‘Blacklisted’ tomorrow to honour him and share his exceptional artistry with his fans around the world as we all mourn his loss.”

In a statement, Taylor Helgeson of Big Umbrella Management criticised the release, and thanked Carter’s ex-girlfriend, Hilary Duff, for her criticism of the project.

“It’s really sad that within a week of Aaron’s death, there’s a publisher that seems to be recklessly pushing a book out to capitalise on this tragedy without taking appropriate time or care to fact check the validity of his work,” Duff said (via Billboard).

Helgeson added: “In the few short days following our dear friend’s passing we have been trying to grieve and process while simultaneously having to deal with obscenely disrespectful and unauthorised releases including an album, a single and now it seems a book.

“This is a time for mourning and reflection not heartless money grabs and attention seeking. We would ask the parties responsible to remove the aforementioned content and that no further content be released without approval from his family, friends, and associates.”

Since news of Carter’s death broke, tributes have poured in from across the music industry and beyond, with New Kids On The Block, Diane Warren, Melissa Joan Hart and more all sharing their condolences and memories of Carter.

His brother and Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter also shared his own tribute, writing: “Sometimes we want to blame someone or something for a loss, but the truth is that addiction and mental illness is the real villain here.”

Backstreet Boys also paid tribute to the late singer during a recent show at London’s O2 Arena. During the gig, the band played an in memoriam video of the singer during their performance of ‘No Place’. Footage from the concert — which formed part of the band’s ongoing tour in support of their 2019 album ‘DNA’ — shows vocalist Kevin Richardson addressing Carter’s death to the crowd.

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